Barclays ATP World Tour Final—London

No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic handed No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal his third straight loss of the Tour finale on Friday, defeating the Spaniard 7-6 (5), 6-3.

Djokovic, who desperately needed a win over Nadal to keep his hopes alive of advancing to the weekend's semifinals, prevailed in a back-and-forth opening first set which featured two breaks of serve by both players.

Djokovic began the contest with an early break of serve to lead 3-1. Using his flexible serve and inside-out forehand, the Serb appeared in control of the marquee match up. 

Nadal, who had been struggling with his depth of shot throughout the week, gained a measure of control over the match by breaking back to level the set at 4-4.

With both combatants holding serve in routine fashion to force a first set tiebreak, it was Djokovic who jumped to a mini-break lead to capture a 6-2 advantage.

Nadal fought back with purpose to save three set points, only to send a weak forehand wide and handing Djokovic a one set lead.

Nadal's form at the end of the first set was highlighted by seven winners and 20 unforced errors.

Injury woes began to take precedent during the second set for Nadal. Trailing 1-2 on serve, the Spaniard received treatment for a lower back injury.

Adding to the Mallorcan's recent battle with knee and abdominal ailments, it was evident that the mental strain of a long year was catching up with second seed. 

Djokovic immediately took advantage of his opponent's injury, breaking and holding serve to lead 4-1.

Nadal clawed his way back to post a respectable three games in the second set, which included saving Djokovic's first match point with a laser-like backhand down-the-line, and the second which featured an off forehand which clipped the right sideline. 

The Serb was forced to save a critical break-point with a forehand winner, only to convert his third match point when Nadal sprayed a backhand wide.

With the win, Djokovic improved to 7-3 lifetime against Nadal on hard-courts, while decreasing his head-to-head deficit against the Spaniard to 14-7 lifetime.

Nadal's grueling season is not over by any means. He will travel back to his native Spain in order to prepare for the Davis Cup final against the Czech Republic.

"I am confident [about the Davis Cup final]. I know [it is] going to be a difficult final," expressed Nadal.

"The change on clay, going to be a big change. But that's a big motivation for me, [to] finish the year winning. And I have the opportunity there to play well, to play good tennis on clay and to win, to win something important for my country and for my friends."

Nadal continued to reflect on his week of tennis with optimism during his post match presser.

"[It's not very disappointing]. It's disappointing if you arrive here with the feeling that you have a big chance to win. But I didn't arrive here with that feeling. I know before the tournament that [it was] going to be really tough. But I tried. Every day I tried my best. I think I improved a little bit. But that's tennis. I'm playing against the best players in the world. It wasn't enough on this surface," said Nadal.

Nadal, who currently stands at 399-91 in his career win-loss record, will attempt to become the youngest player in tennis history to capture 400 career wins in less than 500 ATP World Tour matches played.

Djokovic, who is still in the hunt to overtake Nadal's No. 2 ranking this week, will have to wait on the result of tonight's encounter between Nikolay Davydenko and Robin Soderling.

"I think the season that I had this year has taken its toll on me a little bit in this tournament," assessed Djokovic.

"I'm not saying that I should have done some things different. You try to win every match you play. Unfortunately for me, the exhaustion came in the tournament where I should have been the freshest: here. But, still, I managed to get two out of three wins. If I finish today the season, I will be very happy to finish in this way, and just hope to rest well for 2010."

In the event that Davydenko defeats Soderling, the Russian would join the Swede in the semifinal portion of the event.

Soderling currently leads Davydenko 6-3 in career head-to-head meetings, owns a 3-1 record this season.

Soderling, who stands at 2-0 in round robin play, remains the only player left in the field with a chance of capturing the undefeated pot of over $1.5 million, as well as 1500 ATP World Tour ranking points.

Group A action, which wrapped up on Thursday saw, Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro as the two semifinalists.

Federer, who needed to win at least one set against del Potro to advance to the semifinals, achieved his goal on his way to a three set defeat to the Argentine.

Del Potro, who need to defeat Federer in straight sets to assure his semifinal position, barely squeezed into the final four over Andy Murray by winning one more to game over the Scot (45-44).

Del Potro's win became the second straight over his Swiss opponent, adding to his glorious run of capturing his maiden Grand Slam title in New York.

Please check back on Saturday for an semifinal recap from the Barclays ATP World Tour finals in London.